Speaking of "Ethel's Hometown" I was wondering why they didn't have an actress portraying Ethel's mother. We heard about her in a couple eps (Ethel was always going to visit her etc.) But in hometown she appears to be MIA. When Ethel goes up to her old room to freshen up her hair her dad says "We kept your room just like you left it!" Who's WE? I think we got cheated not seeing Ethel's mother too. :D

Speaking of "Ethel's Hometown" I was wondering why they didn't have an actress portraying Ethel's mother. We heard about her in a couple eps (Ethel was always going to visit her etc.) But in hometown she appears to be MIA. When Ethel goes up to her old room to freshen up her hair her dad says "We kept your room just like you left it!" Who's WE? I think we got cheated not seeing Ethel's mother too. :D


I've often wondered about that myself. I can only recall Ethel's mom being
mentioned ONCE in the whole series. It was at the end of that episode where
Fred says she got mad at him and went home to her mother. Actually, I think
I just remembered another time. I believe in the camping episode, where
Lucy is trying to enlist Ethel's help, she says something about "needing the
help of a friend who tells her husband she's going to visit her mother, when in
reality, she'll be staying at a nearby lodge."

I've often wondered about that myself. I can only recall Ethel's mom being
mentioned ONCE in the whole series. It was at the end of that episode where
Fred says she got mad at him and went home to her mother. Actually, I think
I just remembered another time. I believe in the camping episode, where
Lucy is trying to enlist Ethel's help, she says something about "needing the
help of a friend who tells her husband she's going to visit her mother, when in
reality, she'll be staying at a nearby lodge."

Both of those are correct and there's at least one more. There was one ep VV wasn't even in and Fred says Ethel's visiting her mother for a few days. Seeing how cheap Fred is, sending Ethel to Albuquerque all those times must have made him really cranky. :lol:

It looks like that sometimes the producers left out critical details about the ILL characters.

Both of those are correct and there's at least one more. There was one ep VV wasn't even in and Fred says Ethel's visiting her mother for a few days. Seeing how cheap Fred is, sending Ethel to Albuquerque all those times must have made him really cranky. :lol:
For as long as I can remember, whenever Ethel mentions going to be with her mom, I always felt her mother lived in a nearby state. When I watch the hometown episode, I always assumed Ethel's parents are divorced.

Ethel visited her mother in the Vitameatavegamin episode. We didn't see Ethel at all in that episode. One poster thought the Potters were divorced by the time the four were on way to Hollywood. . i didn't think of that. i figure Mrs Potter passed away.
In the ethel and fred fight episode where the two snap at each by saying Fred's mother looked like a weasel. I figure Fred's charactor was 50ish and his mom and dad were passed away by then. Fred's mother was mentioned in the Ricky's visiting mother episode. We do know Ethel was between 40 and 50 in age in Ethels birthday episode. I do think that Lucy's father has passed away. A question whether Ricky's father was living. Did he mentioned something in Little ricky's birth episode.

You all have made me want to watch that episode now! I'm going to stick it on :D

Personally, I always believed that Ethel's mother died before the storyline of Ethel's Hometown began, but reading this thread - I had just remembered that Ethel visited her mother all of those times; she couldn't have been deceased.

After gathering all of that information, I would go to conclude that I believe Ethel's parents divorced and Ethel's mother moved from New Mexico to some other state, most likely near New York (as Irene had envisioned).